ATHENS, Ohio – The Miami University volleyball team got its Mid-American Conference Tournament run off to a great start as it cruised to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-18) victory over Kent State in the MAC Quarterfinals on Saturday. The RedHawks improve to 20-9 on the season, while the Golden Flashes finish the 2014 campaign at 17-14.
Miami advances to the MAC Semifinals for the first time since 2010, where it will take on the second seed Northern Illinois on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. It will be a rematch of a hard-fought, back-and-forth Oct. 4 match in Oxford, where the Huskies took the fifth set 15-13 to earn a 3-2 victory over the RedHawks.
A balanced attack that saw three Miami hitters finish with double-digit kills led the ‘Hawks to victory on Saturday. Junior outside hitter Annie Reiswig and freshman outside hitter Olivia Rusek each recorded 12 kills, while sophomore middle hitter Paige Hill put down 11. Reiswig attacked at a .478 percentage, while Rusek and Hill hit .435 and .400 respectively.
Reiswig was on the attack early, as she put down three kills to help Miami open up a 9-5 lead in set one. A block from Hill and senior right side hitter Sarah Chaney would eventually extend the Red and White advantage to 12-7. Kent State responded with eight straight points to take what would be its largest lead of the night at 15-12. A kill from Hill off an assist by sophomore setter Krista Brakauskas stopped the bleeding and began a 7-1 run that was punctuated by a kill from senior setter/right side hitter Meg Riley. In front 19-17, the RedHawks closed out a 25-18 win on a 6-1 run. Rusek finished off the set with back-to-back kills.
With the Golden Flashes in front 9-8 in set two, two kills from Rusek were part of a 7-2 run by Miami that put it ahead, 15-11. Rusek continued the aggressive attacking, joining Chaney in putting down two kills apiece to help push the advantage to six at 22-16. After KSU scored a point, kills from Rusek, Riley and Hill off Brakauskas assists finished off a 25-17 Miami victory.
The first half of set three was tight throughout as with the exception of an 8-6 Kent State lead, neither team could establish an advantage of more than one point. The lead changed hands 10 times until a Golden Flashes point gave it a 17-16 advantage. KSU followed with an attack error. Rusek put down back-to-back kills to put the ‘Hawks up, 19-17, and force Kent State to call timeout. The break did not help the Flashes. Hill followed with two more kills as MU scored the next five points in a row to create match point. Kent State fought it off once, but an attack error gave the RedHawks a 25-18 win and a sweep in the match.
Riley finished with seven kills, 15 assists and six digs. Brakauskas led Miami with 30 assists, while freshman libero Maeve McDonald had eight digs.
As a team, the RedHawks attacked at a .349 percentage, their second highest attack percentage of the season (highest was .358 in win over Mississippi State on Sept. 6). They held the Golden Flashes to a .149 attack percentage.
